Eric Greidinger, MD

With LRI funding, Dr. Greidinger aimed to find better ways to predict which organs and tissues in a person with lupus are at imminent risk for attack.

Within two years of winning LRI funding, he has in fact had success in developing a special model to assess the potential of immune system “danger signal” sensors to do just this. He now has extended funding from the Veterans Administration.

To determine the mechanisms involved in this targeting of organs, he used a novel model that his laboratory developed in which different organs are singled out based on the activation of components of the innate immune system—the sensors of “danger signals” that prompt the immune system to swing into action.

In the time remaining on his LRI grant, he aims to leverage his other innovative ideas on the mechanisms of selective tissue targeting in autoimmunity into additional federal grant support.

Dr. Greidinger’s findings have the potential to lead to novel therapies that can convert severe disease into milder disease.

Ongoing funding:

In 2008, Dr. Greidinger won a $650,000 grant from the Veterans Administration to further study immune response patterns and assessing their potential for generating new therapies that could convert severe disease to mild disease.